nThambo Day 5 – New Sightings and Old Friends

Day 5 at nThambo Tree Camp proved another special day in the bush. Despite the wintry chill of the 5:30 am wake up, the sights I experienced were once again heartwarming. The morning game drive was highlighted early on with a nervous heard of impala drinking at the waterhole as their reflections peered back at them. A pleasing surprise was a great spot by Issack our tracker – an African Barred Owlet!

 

As we continues we were happy to encounter our friends the two “Ross Pride Breakaway Females” There two lionesses had left their original pride of 20 + lions to go it alone. There have proved themselves great hunters, but had sadly lost several litters of cubs over recent years. Having a healthy pride to help raise and protect cubs is critical as many other animals will kill young lion cubs if they encounter them unattended.

 

A hearty breakfast was followed by a nice bush walk where we got to learn more about tracking , animal scat, and the smaller things to be found in the bush. It was a very nice treat to wind up walking alongside a journey (or tower) of giraffe for over half an hour. My friendly Lilac Breasted Roller even visited us as we returned to camp.

The first part of the afternoon drive was highlighted by being in the midst of a relaxed breeding herd of elephants. To me the coolest part was to see the two elephants below “greet” each other in a most unique way! Has anyone ever seen this behavior before in the wild or in captivity?

   

 

The day concluded with another up close encounter with our by now well-known lionesses. Their expressions here show it all. Notice the condition of her teeth – close examination shows her to be missing a canine tooth and two incisor teeth. Life in the bush is not for sissies!

 

Cheers – come back to see the WOW factor that day six brings!

Day Two at nThambo - a Real Cracker!

 

Day two of my safari here at nThambo Tree Camp in the Klaserie Game Reserve was simply stunning. The combination of wonderful companions from South Africa, Germany, and England makes for a wonderful international experience that I wish everyone had a chance to experience. In addition, our hosts, guide and tracker have been nothing short of world class in making this visit feel like being at a second home – great kudos to Lily, Luan, and Issack!

 

 

 

 

Our two game drives of the day yielded a plethora of the “Big Five” (the five most dangerous animals to hunt on foot in South Africa – Rhino-Leopard-Lion-Cape Buffalo-and Elephant). Today we saw four of the five with only the leopard proving elusive. In addition to the thrill of seeing all the big name animals, Issack amazed all of us by seeing and alerting us to a bushbaby in the total darkness. I was thrilled to be able to capture images of it to share with you – usually they are far too skittish, but this fella cooperated for just long enough before hoping off into the African night. Enjoy the images and keep your eyes peeled here for more coming tomorrow!  

 

2013 Blue Lion Year in Review- Part 3 of 6

In this post, we will wander from photo # 15 down to the edge of my top 10 images of 2013. This collection features images from my South African Safari as well as local shots and even my favorite Civil War reenactment shot of 2013. Enjoy and make sure to visit back tomorrow for images # 6 through 10! If you missed previous posts in this countdown, you can click on them here: PART 1, PART 2.

# 15 ~ Spotted Hyena Snarl ~ Ngala Game Reserve, South Africa

# 14 ~ Snowy Egret Hunting ~ Hagerman NWR, Sherman, TX

#13 ~ "FIRE!" ~ Battle of Fort Richardson, Jacksboro,TX

#12 ~ (Not So) Graceful Giraffe ~ Fossil Rim , Glen Rose, TX 

#11 ~ Reflective Heron ~ Hagerman NWR, Sherman, TX

Once I post the next installment in the countdown, you can click HERE  to see it! As always I am interested to hear which of my images speak most loudly to you individually! Feel free to tell me in the comments below! 

ON SAFARI - DAY 2

Welcome back to the Blue Lion Blog for the next installment of my “Safari Series” which details my visit to the Ngala Safari Lodge in South Africa in July, 2013.

This entry focuses on the animals I photographed on day two of my visit. After being lucky enough to see a Verreaux’s Eagle Owl the previous afternoon, I was again lucky to see another at a distance in the dawn light. It made a nice silhouette against the rosy-fingered African dawn.  

As the sun rose, we encountered a breeding herd of giraffes. The young seemed odd to me as they obviously had yet to grow their necks to the wonderfully ridiculous length we are all used to. The second image here features a bird known as an oxpecker working to remove small insects and ticks from the hide of this adult giraffe. 

   

From one of the largest of the African animals, we drove on to discover the smallest of Africa’s carnivores – the Dwarf Mongoose. These adorable little fellas live in matriarchal colonies centered on abandoned termite mounds that they use for shelter and as lookout posts. 

This next sighting was a great thrill for me as it was my very first wild cheetah sighting of my three safaris! This female was moving from termite mound to termite mound in hopes of scanning the surrounding area for potential prey. Since it was getting later in the morning, she was not having much luck. However, it did provide the chance for her to pose for me as if she was a feline supermodel! 

  

To make the day complete, during our afternoon drive, we came across a pride of four lions – an adult lioness and her three young offspring (two females and a male) as they were stalking a herd of impala. The images of this pride show how well these tawny colored lions can be camouflaged against the winter grasses in South Africa. Despite their best efforts, the impala were able to spot them before the lions could sneak close enough to launch an attack. While the lions have a great deal of stealth, they are unsuccessful in the vast majority (approx. 80%) of their hunting attempts. 

The day concluded with a brilliant sunset and a ride back to the lodge in the dark using a bright spotlight to alter us to the presence of nocturnal animals. We were lucky to catch brief glimpses of more mongooses, some bush babies, and a small nocturnal cat called a serval. 

A delicious meal in the boma followed by local tribal singing and dancing rounded out the evening before bed called my name as the African morning comes awfully early at 5:00 am the next morning!  

Photo of the Week - August 22-28

The most viewed image at BlueLionPhotos.com for this past week was an image I took while on safari in Botswana.  We had a wonderful sunset which coincided with our stoping for a "sundowner" (a sunset drink & chance to stretch legs out of the safari jeep) so I could set up my tripod and capturea great scene. As I set up the tripod, the giraffe decided to walk by and add it's distinctive silhouette to the scene. Some days you just get luckier than you deserve!

This image is available for purchase as a print or as a card set from my store at Etsy.com. The link is http://www.etsy.com/shop/bluelionphotos.

ENJOY!

Click this image to view a larger version